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Philadelphia 76ers Hold on to Edge the Phoenix Suns

November 25th, 2012 at 9:16 PM By Ian Kingsbery

11/25/12 – On Sunday in the second game of the Sixers back-to-back at home, they took on the Phoenix Suns. After last night's tough OT loss against the OKC Thunder the Sixers would have to rely a little more on the bench in order to bounce back. Although the Suns are in the process of rebuilding after the Steve Nash era, they still provide a pretty tough test and rank in the top teams in the NBA in points per game. Tonight the Sixers needed to get started fast, crash the boards, and not allow Phoenix to hang around late in the game.

The game started well for Philly with Turner hitting two 3's. Lavoy and Jrue added buckets to give them a significant lead. But the Suns responded with a 14-4 run to tie the game and from there it would be close all night. The Sixers held on to a 23-20 lead after 1. In the 2nd Phoenix had a 9-0 run led by Sebastain Telfair to take the lead and force Coach Collins to call a timeout. The Suns' bench would come up big for them in this game and really kept them in it. Philly's Maalik Wayns then checked in and had 7 points in his only appearance in the game. The Sixers then retook the lead via a Thad deuce, a Jrue and-1, and a J-Rich 3 pointer. At the half they led 46-41. In the 3rd the Sixers started fast led by a couple buckets from Jrue Holiday, but the Suns responded. Center Marcin Gortat had 13 points this quarter as he repeatedly abused the pathetic defense of Spencer Hawes. He finally cooled off when Hawes got benched and Kwame came in to put a body on him. The Sixers then went on a 9-0 run and had the lead 80-75 after 3. But in the 4th they started to slip and had 3 turnovers on their first 4 possessions. Phoenix completed an 11-0 run to cut the lead, but the Sixers responded with a 7-0 run of their own led by Lavoy Allen and Evan Turner. Philly had a comfortable lead with a few minutes to go, but the allowed the Suns to hang around. Michael Beasley was running the show and led a 6-0 run for Phoenix. Collins called timeout up 98-97. J-Rich then hit a jumper, but the Suns got to the free throw line. Another timeout. Jrue Holiday then had the play of the game when he converted a contested jumper, but quickly the Suns hit a bucket. Jrue then got to the line and made 1 of 2. Down by only 2 points, Michael Beasley drove the basket but somehow missed a layup to send the game to OT. Sixers pull it out 104-101.

The Sixers were able to pull this one out tonight despite letting Phoenix hang around the entire game and almost force OT. Jrue Holiday put the team on his back and made sure that this was a win. And its a good thing he did, because despite the Suns relatively lackluster roster, they execute pretty well on offense and have a bunch of guys that can contribute. They also have good rebounders in Gortat and Scola, who made a difference tonight winning the rebound battle 41-33. The Sixers let this one get a little too close, but they'll take the result. They need to do a better job of closing games out as they move forward. Next game Tuesday 7 p.m. vs. the Dallas Mavericks @ Wells Fargo. CSN. More to come…